#Astronomy

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Showing posts from March, 2020

Can gamma ray burst go faster than light.

According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. Yet in space many strange things happen, including a new proposal by two astrophysicists that blasts creating bursts of gamma rays may be able to speed up faster than light , going superluminal. How fast does a gamma ray burst travel? Therefore, a wave could travel through a gamma - ray burst jet at superluminal speeds without breaking relativity. But to understand this, we need to back up a little to look at the source of those jets. Gamma - ray bursts are the most energetic explosions in the Universe. What is a gamma ray burst and how much energy can it release? The brightness of this flash of gamma - rays can temporarily overwhelm all other gamma - ray sources in the universe. The burst can last from a fra...

Again 12 new moons discovered orbiting Jupiter

Scientists have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter ,bringing the total number of natural satellite circling around king planets to a whooping 79 . The finding include 11 " normal" outer moons , and one that scientist called an "odd ball". Researchers , led by Scott Sheppard from Carnegie Institution for science in US , first spotted the moons in last year while they were looking for a possible massive planet far beyond Pluto. "Jupiter just happened to be in the sky near the search field where we where looking for extremely distant solar system object, so we where serendipitously able to look for new moons for Jupiter while same time looking for planet at the fringes of our solar system," said Sheppard."It takes several observations to confirm an object actually orbits around Jupiter. So, the whole process took a year," said Gareth Williams from the International Astronomical Union. Nine of new moons are part of a distant outer swa...

Evidence of ancient lakes found beneath Mars surface

Scientists say, they have found the first geological evidence of a system of ancient interconnected lakes that once lay deep beneath the surface of Mars, five of which may contain minerals essential for life. According to researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Mars appears to bean arid world, but its surface shows compelling signs that large amounts of water once existed across the planet. Last year European space Agency's Mars Express mission detected a pool of liquid water beneath the planet's south pole. A new study, published in the `Journal of Geophysical Research` : Planets, reveals the extent of underground water on ancient Mars that was previously once predicted by models."Early Mars was watery World,but as the planet's climate change this water retreated below the surface to form pools and 'groundwater',"said Salese from Utrecht University. "We traced this water in our study ,as its scale and role is a matter...

We are going to see Fireworks of Betelgeuse in some days. ( Countdown from Today)

Betelgeuse is usually the tenth - brightest in night sky and, after Rigel , the second brightest in constellation of Orion . it is a distinctly reddish semi regular variable star whose apparent magnitude, varying between +0.0 and +1.6, has the widest range displayed by an first magnitude star. How long does Betelgeuse have left? Huge, red stars like Betelgeuse live fast and die violently, exploding in stellar event called supernovae that are visible across vast distance. So, while Betelgeuse is a relatively a younger star- only about 8.5 million years old- astronomers know that it is nearing to end of its life. Did Betelgeuse explode? Starting in October 2019, Betelgeuse began to dim noticeable, and by January 2020 its brightness had dropped by a factor of approximately 2.5, from magnitude 0.5 to 1.5. Despite speculation that the drop might indicate that Betelgeuse could soon explode as supernovae, astrophysicists said...

Hubble discovers dwarf galaxy in cosmic backyard

The Hubble space telescope has made an unexpected discovery of a draft Galaxy in our cosmic backyard,located just 30 million light years away,scientist say. Research used the NASA/ESA Hubble space telescope to study white dwarf stars within the globular cluster NGC 6752. According to European space agency (ESA), the aim of the observations was to use these stars to measure the age of globular cluster ,but in process researchers made an unexpected discovery.in the outer fringes area observed wit Hubble's Advanced camera for surveys a compact collection of stars was visible, according to a study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the royal astronomical society:letters. After careful analysis of brightnesses and temperatures, the astronomers concluded that these stars did not belong to the clusters--which is the part of milky way--but rather they are millions of light years more distant. the cosmic neighbor, nicknamed Bedin 1,is modestly sized, elong...

Years too young

Saturn's rings are younger than scientist thought and appeared within the last 10 to 100 million years, according to research published recently based on the path breaking findings from NASA Cassini spacecraft. The sixth planet of earth from the Sun formed about 4.5 billion years ago, along with the rest of the planets in our solar system, and spent bulk of its existence without the characteristic rings it is known for today. Astronomers have long believed the rings could be young, and perhaps formed by collision between the moons of Saturn or by the comet that shattered in close proximity to the planet. Some of these answers have come into sharp focus because of Cassini, an unmanned US-European probe that launched in 1997 and ended in 2017 with a planned death plunge into Saturn's surface. SKY WATCH At the end of is mission Cassini made 22 orbits,circling between Saturn and its rings, getting close...

The powerful meteor that no one saw

At precisely 11.48 AM on December 18,2018, a large space rock heading straight for earth at speed of 19 miles/s exploded into vast ball of fire as it entered in atmosphere,15.9 miles above the Bering sea. From below, the only witnesses to this fiery event may have been the fish inhabit the frigid waters between Russia and Alaska, as no human caught sight of it. A meteor is the luminous phenomenon that results when an asteroid and other celestial body enters the earth's atmosphere. it is commonly called shooting star. If it does not fully vaporize and some part of it hits earth's surface,it is called meteorites. On December 18,2018,a large space rock heading straight for earth at a speed of 19 miles per second exploded into vast ball of fire as it entered the atmosphere, 15.9 mile above the Bering Sea. no human eye caught sight it. US military satellites spotted the explosion i...